Taishan (also known as Taishanshi or Taishan City) is a small beautiful famous Chinese
city located 140 kilometers west of Hong Kong, 100 kilometers southwest of Guanzhou,
or 80 kilometers west of Macau. It lies along the Guangdong Province coastline on the southwest
corner of the Pearl River Delta area bordering the South China Sea.

Taishan has a land area of 3286 square kilometers. Its natural scenery consists of tall mountains, hills, basins, plains, and beaches.
Shangchuan/Xiachuan Islands, Zihuagong (location of province's largest stone
engraving from the Ming Dynasty displaying the words "Sea Without Waves")
and Mt. Shihua are listed among the "Hundred Scenic Spots of South Guangdong".
Sanhe Town has a high-quality natural hot spring or geyser.
Taishan is also rich in natural mineral resources; more than 100 minerals
have already been discovered.

Taishan is well known as being "China's First Homeland for Overseas Chinese".
In fact, it is the native place to about 1.3 million overseas
Chinese people from over 80 countries, more than its local population of 1
million. Most of these overseas Chinese are first-generation or
second-generation immigrants living in foreign countries such as the United
States, Canada, Mexico, or England. The Chinese community in the
United States has been dubbed the name "Taishan's Other Half".
Since its people are widespread everywhere around the world, the English term
Taishanese is commonly used to refer to its people or its dialect.

Taishan is also reputable in its volleyball
activities. Premier Zhou En-Lai once stated, "Taishan is Half of
Country's (China) Volleyball System." Taishan also has an
excellent educational system, benefitting the nation with large amounts
of talented people.

Since the implementation of the country's Open-Door Economic Reform Policy,
overseas Chinese have made a deep impact in helping the development of every aspect of Taishan's infrastructure, particularly its commercial enterprises, agriculture, transportation,
communication, and electricity. Over the years, a sum of 1.07 billion HK dollars
(139 million US dollars) have been donated by overseas Chinese back to its homeland
for public welfare projects. Technology, education, culture,
sports, and health continue to attain new achievements. Taishan
is thus ranked as one of Guangdong's Province advanced educational city and
one of China's top hundred cities in technological strength.
Taishan's appearance is constantly changing to a fresh new improved look daily.
Since 1949, the city's central district land area has increased
from 0.7 square kilometers to 22 square kilometers today. For
two consecutive years, the city was raved as the "Country's (China) Clean
City". Public order is stable while culture progresses,
as in ripples.

The current newly appointed government has setup the following plan for running the city today:

Expand its open-door policy, thus attracting more foreign investment,

Accelerate economic reforms in all its business enterprises,

Further develop constituent town economies,

Further develop its own city economy,

Effectively administer engineering projects, such as the expressway construction,

Advance its cultural spirit under civil law and order.

TAISHAN "HOISAAN" NAME

Taishan was founded in the 12th year of the Hongzhi Reign during the Ming Dynasty. Originally, it was actually known as Xinning County; it was later changed to Taishan County in 1914. On April 17,
1992, the State Council approved promoting it to city status.

The name "Taishan" reflects the Mandarin pinyin equivalent of the Chinese ideographic name .
Although Mandarin is the accepted standard dialect in Chinese
pronunciation, the local Cantonese and Taishanese dialects are more widely
used by its people. Thus, the Cantonese pronunciation "Toisaan"
or the Taishanese pronunciation "Hoisaan" is more recognizable by its local
and overseas people. The list below allows you to hear the distinction between
the three dialects for this term.

Taishanese

Cantonese

Mandarin

It should be noted that the pinyin name "Taishan" is also used to designate
a famous mountain within China. This mountain is not related to
Taishan City at all except that both share the same pinyin name.
However, its ideographic name and its Cantonese pronunciation "Taaisaan" are different. The mountain is located south of Jinan, the capital
city of Shandong Province. The mountain was famous as a mountain
of great spiritual significance; the sun was supposed to begin its westward
journey across the sky from this mountain. Just south of the mountain
is also the birthplace of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius.
Since there are currently some active websites that describe this mountain, both in
Chinese and English, we will not go into much detail here.

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

Although many overseas Chinese have kept in touch with their native land and/or culture, many have also lost touch as Chinese immigrants start a new life in their new places. Most second-generation Chinese immigrants or after are probably unfamiliar with Chinese reading or writing.
However, they can speak some Chinese (which was taught to the by their parents) and
might know that their parents/grandparents come from Taishan.
TAISHAN.COM hopes that this English version could help bridge the awareness
gap between these immigrants and their homeland.

This English version of TAISHAN.COM addresses its website to two types of
English-literate audiences:

non-Chinese people who have an interest in learning about China and its
culture, and

Chinese people, particularly second-generation immigrants or after, who
have a desire to learn more about their homeland.

Established in June 18, 2000, the taishan.com website currently has two
versions, the Simplified Chinese
version and an English version. This website is able to toggle to the appropriate language based on the user's operating system. Thus, if the user enters the address "taishan.com" and the user's system language is English, this website shall automatically redirect to "http://www.taishan.com/english/index.htm" which is the English version
main page. This feature allows us to become a convenient portal site
for both people here in China or elsewhere alike without wasting a
main entrance page.

However, if you can read
Simplified Chinese and you have GB fonts installed on your computer, we strongly encourage you to visit it because we have spent more time and energy in developing that section because of its larger audience. If you have a Windows PC, please refer to the
Microsoft website for instructions on
installing the fonts.

If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see with TAISHAN.COM, please feel free to email jimmy@taishan.com. If you intend to visit Taishan in the next trip and you travel services such as hotel,
transportation, or English services, you may also email
jimmy@taishan.com.